Intermodal complementarity and cross-cultural adaptation in children’s animated movies: a multimodal analysis of globalized narratives
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Ruihua Zhao
Ruihua Zhao is an associate professor of English at Sun Yat-sen University, China, and Ph.D. from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her interest includes systemic functional linguistics, discourse analysis and ecolinguistics. She is the author of Expansion of Eco-discourse Analysis Towards the International Relationships: A case study on China’s Arctic position (2023) and Review of Current Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse (2020); coeditor (with Huang, G. W.) of Harmonious Discourse Analysis: Ecolinguistics through Chinese Culture and Philosophy (2021) and Harmonious discourse analysis: Approaching peoples’ problems in a Chinese context (2021).
Siyu Zhuang is a master candidate in the Department of English translation studies at Sun Yat-sen University, China. Her interest is both in systemic functional linguistics, multiomodal discourse analysis and cross-cultural translation studies.
Abstract
Current research on cross-cultural animated narratives predominantly analyzes individual modalities, neglecting how multimodal complementarity mediates the negotiation between cultural specificity and global accessibility. This gap is critical to address, as animation increasingly serves as a vehicle for intercultural dialogue in globally connected societies. Grounded in systemic functional linguistics and socio-semiotics, this study employs a multimodal analytic framework to compare how Ne Zha: Birth of the Demon Child (2019) and Coco (2017) utilize intermodal strategies to balance cultural authenticity and accessibility. The analysis reveals three core mechanisms: synchronization (strict audiovisual alignment), complementarity (semantic reinforcement across modes), and contradiction (juxtaposition of conflicting cultural codes). Findings demonstrate that (1) Coco (2017) naturalizes Mexican Día de los Muertos rituals through synchronized sensory anchoring and universal theme embedding, (2) Ne Zha (2019) sustains Daoist mythological complexity via staggered symbolic layering and contradiction-driven tension, and (3) both movies scaffold cross-cultural empathy through rhythmically distinct yet complementary multimodal orchestration. The study concludes that intermodal complementarity is a central mechanism for cultural adaptation, offering a dual-path model for globalized storytelling. This model comprises the “immediate sensory harmonization” strategy observed in Coco (2017) and the “contemplative symbolic layering” strategy of Ne Zha (2019), illustrating distinct yet effective approaches to harmonizing cultural locality with global universality.
Funding source: National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences
Award Identifier / Grant number: 24BYY152
About the authors
Ruihua Zhao is an associate professor of English at Sun Yat-sen University, China, and Ph.D. from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her interest includes systemic functional linguistics, discourse analysis and ecolinguistics. She is the author of Expansion of Eco-discourse Analysis Towards the International Relationships: A case study on China’s Arctic position (2023) and Review of Current Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse (2020); coeditor (with Huang, G. W.) of Harmonious Discourse Analysis: Ecolinguistics through Chinese Culture and Philosophy (2021) and Harmonious discourse analysis: Approaching peoples’ problems in a Chinese context (2021).
Siyu Zhuang is a master candidate in the Department of English translation studies at Sun Yat-sen University, China. Her interest is both in systemic functional linguistics, multiomodal discourse analysis and cross-cultural translation studies.
Acknowledgement
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences of China [grant number 24BYY152].
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Research ethics: Ethical approval is not required as no human participants, human data or human tissue involved.
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Conflict interest: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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Data availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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